Monday, September 13, 2010

Somewhere Between Evolution And Revolution Lies. . .

1. A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form. See Synonyms at development.

2. a. The process of developing.
b. Gradual development.

rev·o·lu·tion (re-və-ˈlü-shən) noun

1. a. A sudden, radical, or complete change.
b. A fundamental change in political organization; especially: the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed.
c. Activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation.
d. A fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something : a change of paradigm .
e. A changeover in use or preference especially in technology .

From Long Island's storied past to today's suburban sprawl to the vision of tomorrow's suburbia reinvented.

Others say Long Island cannot wait for evolution to take its course. A more revolutionary posture, from concept to design to implementation, must catapult our island from stagnation and decline to crowning glory as the very model for the new suburbia.

What say you?

The Community Alliance blog, itself transforming in both an evolutionary and revolutionary sense (blink and you may miss it ;-), now sets out to explore the very frontiers of Long Island's future.

Where no Town Supervisor or County Exec has dared to go? Perhaps.

More so, where you, and the collective, We, The People of Long Island, would like to see our Long Island, in five years, ten years, twenty-five years, and far beyond.

Our blog evolves yet again, taking a revolutionary spin, if you will, making you the blogger, and the blog a public forum where community groups, organizations, and John Q. Public can offer fresh perspectives on the many ways that we can shape tomorrow's Long Island, today.

Can we afford to simply sit back, waiting with mild anticipation or placid apathy, Long Island 2030 (in one incarnation or another) a speck on the distant horizon, as evolution (or de-evolution, as the case appears to have been) slowly defines the look of our island?

Must we take up arms (figuratively, of course), creating a more revolutionary environment for change on a Long Island that has grown, often haphazardly and with little forethought, at astronomical cost, from a farming community to a bedroom community to a burgeoning brownfield anxiously awaiting a course correction?

Or is there some middle ground we can all agree upon, and move forward, past the endless discourse, through the politics of dysfunction, beyond the indifference of planners, and despite the lethargy of the populace? A Re-Evolution Island, perhaps!

From whence Long Island has come is no secret. Where we stand today, amidst the idle chatter of Smart Growth, the decaying silence of "downtown," and the empassioned, if not too often hallow cries of sustainability, is obvious, for all who dare stroll down Main Street or take a ride along the LIE. Where we go tomorrow (which is only today, once removed), is up to YOU!

Okay. The Re-Evolution of Long Island is up to all of us! No one left sitting on the sidelines. No more mere spectators to an island's resurgence.

If you are reading this, you are summoned forthwith to participate in the greatest evolutionary change that any revolution has wrought. Now is the time. This is the place.

Ideas. Vision. Insight. Taking our island's tomorrows from drafting board to where shovel hits the street. Your Long Island. Our Long Island. Re-Evolution Island!- - -Write to The Community Alliance at TheCommunityAlliance@yahoo.com with your thoughts, commentary, and vision for the future of our Long Island. Send us your Guest Blogs for posting. Share your commitment to Long Island's future with friends, neighbors, and, yes, our elected representatives. Become a force to be listened to and reckoned with. A Re-Evolutionary force, capable, and ready, to change what is into what can be.

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The Community Alliance is an umbrella organization comprised of civic-minded individuals and community groups whose objective is to promote and enhance the quality of life of every Long Islander.
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